Person
Every book Martin Seligman recommended on podcasts
Books recommended by Martin Seligman
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Agency
Discussed“So, uh, what, uh, the book agency is about, it takes the human condition from hunter-gatherers, through agriculture, through Homer, uh, uh, through the Greeks, through the Middle Ages, uh, through the Reformation and the Renaissance, and through modern times, and asked the question, when do human beings flourish and when do they stagnate?”
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The Torah
The Torah by David J.
Discussed“And what I had done in chapter 9 is I look at agency in the Torah. Well, the five books of Moses are not very agentic. God basically does the heavy lifting and the heavy lifting and the heavy lifting and the heavy lifting.”
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Bible
The Bible is a foundational anthology of sacred texts comprising ancient narratives, laws, poetry, and prophetic writings that form the cornerstone of Judeo-Christian faith and Western morality.
Discussed“So here's an example from the Bible, from Hebrew. In the Torah, go beyond the Torah. After the Torah, the word teshuvah occurs for the first time. Teshuvah means repentance, that you can redo your life.”
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The Iliad
The Iliad by Homer is an ancient Greek epic poem that chronicles the fierce battles, heroic deeds, and tragic human costs surrounding the final weeks of the Trojan War.
Discussed“If you look at just Homer, the Greeks, if you look at the older Homer, which is the Iliad, in which Achilles doesn't do it, but the gods get Achilles to do it. Achilles is not agentic. A hundred years later, you've got Odysseus, the clever, wily, agentic person.”
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The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes is a classic 1976 work that posits a provocative hypothesis about the historical development of human consciousness and psychological self-awareness.
Discussed“one major hypothesis, this is of Julian Jaynes' wonderful book called "The Bicameral Mind" about 50 years ago. He was a teacher of mine. Jaynes argued that consciousness itself, this thing inside of us”
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Books Martin Seligman wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive Psychology Founder: How To Stop Your Negative Thoughts - Martin Seligman - #1167 | Modern Wisdom | 2026-10-24 | 8 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
Plugged Learned Optimism
“you can go to a book I wrote called learned optimism and get the techniques”